Deadspin sells to European media company and leaves staff behind

Deadspin, the sports news website, has been sold to a European digital media company, its owner, G/O Media, said Monday.

G/O Media, owned by private equity firm Great Hill Partners, operates a number of digital media brands, including Gizmodo, Kotaku and The Onion. Jim Spanfeller, the CEO, told employees in an email Monday afternoon that the company had recently been approached about a deal by “a newly formed digital media company” called Lineup Publishing.

Mr. Spanfeller said the board accepted the offer because of “the buyer’s editorial plans for the brand, tough competition in the sports journalism industry and a valuation that reflected a significant premium over our original purchase price for the site.”

He did not disclose the deal price.

Mr. Spanfeller said the new owner would not employ any of the website’s existing staff, nor would those employees stay at G/O Media.

“While the new owners plan to be respectful of Deadspin’s unique voice, they plan to take a different content approach to the site’s overall sports coverage,” he said.

Lineup Publishing website has few details about the company, other than the description: “Captivating brands. With a lot of character.” It indicates that the company is based in Malta. A company representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Deadspin, which started as a blog in 2005 and was part of the Gawker Media portfolio of websites, was sold to G/O Media in 2019, along with several other former Gawker brands.

Last year, G/O Media closed Jezebel, a groundbreaking feminist website, and then sold it to Paste Magazine. It also sold Lifehacker, an online tutorial.